


Twin Souls and Kindred Spirits

by KittyCatCrunchie



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist, Naruto
Genre: Blood, Demon Summoning, Demonic Possession in a Way, Dragoons, First Hogake's Neckalce, Four-tailed Naruto - Freeform, Fox Cloak Naruto - Freeform, Fuinjutsu, Gen, How Do I Tag, Inner Strength, Kochiyose in a Way, Mental Strength, My First Fanfic, Nine-tailed Fox Cloak Naruto - Freeform, Not Bound By a Contract Due to Being a Jinchuuriki and Not a Full Demon, One-tailed Naruto - Freeform, SEALs, Shodaime Hogake's Necklace, Son of Satan, Swordfighting, Tailed Beast Version 1, Tailed Beast Version 2, The Author Regrets Everything, Three-tailed Naruto, Violence, rampages, unintentional violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-23 05:43:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14928236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyCatCrunchie/pseuds/KittyCatCrunchie
Summary: What would happen if the demon Igor Neuhaus tried to summon to exact his revenge on Satan, through Rin, for using him to murder is own family in cold blood, wasn't what he thought it was?What if he wasn't even an 'it'?





	1. The Summoning

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, well... anywhere so any advice and spelling/grammar fixes are appreciated. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Also, the first chapter is pretty much an extended intro so, sorry about that. The reason for that is its really late right now but I suddenly got the idea for this and didn't want it to go to waste. So here we are. I'll try update soon/improve the first chapter. And see what happens. If anyone is willing to beta for me if appreciate it.
> 
> Also DISCLAIMER TIME!!!!! I do not own Ao no Exorcist or Naruto no matter how many times I've wished for it to be so.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A summoning circle drawn from the blood of innocents, a vengeful Tamer, and a chant that's just right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I'm Crunchie and this is my first ever fanfic.
> 
> This chapter is kinda like a prologue but not really. It's more like the backbone inspiration for a fic that I got in the middle of the night and had to write down.
> 
> Because of this I'll probably either extend or rewrite this chapter soon. 
> 
> Don't worry, although this is my first fic ever, I'll try to make it good enough to read.
> 
> Any advice on how to improve is appreciated and any offers to beta are even more so.
> 
> Update:  
> Just finished adding to the chapter! Its almost 1000 words now instead of 200. Hope it's better! Please tell me about any spelling/grammar errors you find so I can fix them.
> 
> Anyway hope you enjoy!
> 
> For future chapters/posting schedule: For now, I'll post the next chapter when i get 10 kudos. So I don't get overworked. I'll see after that. If you guy shave any ideas for a posting schedule plese tell me.

A dark silhouette shifted through the shadows that stuck to the edge of the gloaming light. Only if you watched, and waited and never lost focus on the spot it seemed to stand, could you even hope to see it move, to see it shimmer in the shadows. But it  watched,  and waited for the one person that would almost pass it by, any person inquisitive enough to investigate a sound in the alley next to them even in the dimming light. It finally had to wait no longer, a lean, ash-blond haired, young man, in his early twenties had taken the bait.

He dropped down from the rooftop he had occupied only moments before, and landed right on top of the blond, knocking him out without him even having enough time to notice anything had happened. The attacker then slung the poor boy over his shoulder and carried him away, blending into the shadows.

 

* * *

My head was murky and I couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried, blink away the mucus from my eyes. When I could see well enough, I tried to move, but all I could manage to do was jingle the chains holding up my arms a little, it didn’t seem like I had fully recovered from going to bed so late yet.

_ Wait, since when did I chain myself up to sleep? And, now that I think about it, since when did my room smell so musk _ _ – _

 

“ _ AAAAAH!” _

A sudden pain raked across my abdomen and I couldn’t figure out what could hurt so much, that is, until I finally managed to look down. It took me a while to figure out that what I was seeing was actually my body. A long bloodied cut ran across my gut, well that explained the unrelenting pain, and there was blood everywhere, but what caught and held my attention were the long, meaty ropes that trailed out of the hole that seemed to encompass most, if not all of my lower abdomen.

 

“Oh.”

I realised. 

 

”They’re my intestines.”

 

* * *

The boy stirred a little before half an hour of being here, rather a long time to recover from being knocked out if you ask me, and fell unconscious again straight away. I had move him a little to keep him awake, the sound of the chains rattling seemed to confuse him and he drifted into thought almost as if it triggered a train of thought, maybe it did. At least he didn’t faint again, the sacrifice had to be fully conscious throughout the whole process or the summoning wouldn’t work.

He seemed to come to his senses when I made the first incision. He started yelling right into my face. It wasn’t an enjoyable thing, to have someone up against you and shouting at your face, so I fetched a cloth gag from the corner of the basement where I kept things for such occasions, and stuffed it in his mouth. It wasn’t much better, but at least I didn’t have to smell his rancid breath now.

I carried on cutting him open with my kama* until the incision spanned the full length of his gut at which point I plunged my hand inside his, already dripping, bowels and dragged out his intestines. I pulled them out to their full length and then started to draw the innermost ring of the summoning circle, trailing the meaty string on top of the bloody line.

I began to add the glyphs to the demonic construct and covered those with the sacrifice's innards as well until only the outermost circle was left, which was to be drawn with the untainted blood of the sacrifice's, still-beating, heart, to represent the true, untainted evil of the demon I was going to summon.

 

* A kama/kai is a Japanese weapon that is similar to a sickle in size but looks more like a scythe (not a Death scythe though lol)

* * *

 

The room was silent, apart from the raking breaths of the live sacrifice needed to bring it here. Once it was here, Neuhaus knew, that hell-spawn brat wouldn't be in this world for much longer. He'd send it fleeing back to its sick master, or in this case, he sneered at the word, it's  father .

_ Ha! Like Satan could even feel the love of a father! But after what Satan did, what it made him do, to his own family. He would make sure Satan's little demon-grub regretted the day it stepped foot into this world. _

Neuhaus bent down over the last stretch of floor left unbloodied and drew the summoning circle to a close. It's a shame he needed parts other than the blood of a human to summon this beast otherwise he would’ve gladly used his own, but alas, the completion of the circle required more...elusive parts of the body. He hated having to kill others to summon his beasts and this one was no different, despite its special...skills. But he knew it would all be worth it in the end, when Satan’s little hell-spawn brat would be pulverised by one of the demon lord’s most powerful demons.

He sunk to his knees in the centre of the circle and began to chant, inaudibly at first,"Fools...trust...poison...nothing...hatred...power. Fools are easily trusted by others; trust is a poison so I live as I am, as nothing but hatred and power. Fools are easily trusted by others; trust is a poison so i live as i am, as nothing but HATRED and POWER!"

The circle of blood around him bubbled and writhed as if it were the magma coiling through the Earth's crust. It began to sizzle and soon pulse and glow as well. The outer circle rose like a tidal wave, falling inwards, towards the ex-professor. The force of the wave almost knocked him flat but he righted himself and not once did the chanting stop. Not until the pool of blood began to glow and started to coagulate into the form of...a boy.


	2. The Truth of Tenchi Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Naruto and the 'new' Team Kakashi set off to the rendezvous point with Sasori's 'spy' at the Tenchi bridge in the lands around the Hidden Grass Village, what will go wrong? And what will go slightly less wrong? Will Naruto restrain himself for once? Or will he let loose once more? 
> 
> What if he doesn't even return to the leaf village? What will 'Team Yamato' do?
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> *I used Team Yamato because Team Kakashi includes someone who isn't present. Do I mean Sasuke? Or someone else altogether? Find out ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter! I know I said I'd wait for 10 kudos, but finished it earlier than I thought I would.
> 
> Anyway this chapter is more than double my first chapter's length, it's about 2450 words instead of my first chapter's 984 so, Whew!  
> But boy does my back hurt from sitting and writing for so long. *clicks back* Ooooh! Much better... Except that I just sat down again to finish typing this. *sigh*
> 
> I have goooood neeeews! I might, just miiiight be getting a co-writer on the rest of the fic, that is, if my girlfriend wants to. *crosses fingers*
> 
> I think that's it for now, I don' really have anything more to say except, "Sorry for the punsssss" (not really sorry) and I hope you enjoy this one.
> 
> Also I DID get a better spellcheck so there should be fewer errors even though I just finished writing it now (at 01:08), but if you find any please tell me.

* * *

Formatting:

_ I sure do hate it when Kakashi-sensei is late – _ Thinking

“Sorry guys, I got lost on the road of life”  _ – _ Talking

**_That idiotic jounin, he has better things to do then read pervy novels_ ** _ –  _ Demon Thinking

**You better not be late again or I’ll wreck this whole village** _–_ Demon Talking

Underline _–_ Emphasis

* * *

 

Sakura, Sai and The Number One, Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja himself waited silently, disguised amongst the bushes on the edge of the path. This was, of course, completely out-of-character for Naruto and as such, he was growing dangerously restless. Just as he was about to do something very Naruto, Sai spotted the spy they were waiting for, approach the bridge. This was Yamato’s queue. He slipped out from the underbrush on the west side of the bridge, under the guise of Sasori’s puppet Hiruko of course, and advanced across the bridge stopping only when he was a few metres from the centre. The spy edged forwards and met him in the middle. The wind whipped around his bruise-coloured cloak making it billow around him like the wings of a bat mid-flight. He looked around cautiously, before slowly bringing his hood down to reveal his notoriously well-known face.

 

It was Kabuto, the bastard! He’d almost killed Tsunade Obaa-chan and Naruto had half a mind to go out there and beat some sense into him right then and there. But, he caught himself early for once, and remembered Sasuke and how much he needed his help. They’d never find him if Naruto just went rushing in like he usually did. He calmed himself and settled back into the shrubbery to watch.

 

* * *

 

The faint sound of footsteps made itself known after, what Naruto later realised was, the exchange of information between the Beetle-yarou and Yamato-senchou. He squinted into the forest on the far side of the bridge and let out an almost-audible gasp when he saw who it was... Orochimaru.

 

Upon the revelation that Kabuto was followed, Yamato instituted his attack plan. He drew out his slightly-worn kunai and lunged towards the silver-head’s throat, only for it to clash one of Orochimaru’s Striking Shadow Snakes at the last moment. Kabuto jumped away from his ‘lord’ just in time to avoid the other snake going for his neck.

 

“Arigato Sasori-sama, If you hadn’t pulled out that kunai and intercepted, I wouldn’t have been any more use to you.”

 

Yamato was hard-pressed to figure out how to deal with this and he didn’t have many options.

 

_It would probably be impossible for me to take on Orochimaru alone, and even if I stop him by working with Kabuto, that boy will find out that I’m not Sasori from my fighting style almost immediately and turn against me. Even so, if I call in those three to back me up then Kabuto will find out who I am anyway and capture will be made almost impossible. Either I have to immediately call the three of them and defeat both of our opponents quickly or retreat as is_ _without_ _calling them.I’ll have to do one or the oth-_

 

“Umph!”

 

Kabuto slashed through his wooden disguise with his Chakra Scalpel, just barely missing the Wood _–_ style-nin himself. He leaped backwards aiming for the end of the bridge closest to his Chunin team (Well mostly Chunin anyway) and got caught in a web of Multiple Striking Shadow Snakes only just managing to substitute a Wooden Yamato in time to get away. He landed a few slats away from the western ground and moved to give the signal, but stopped halfway to speak.

 

“What is the meaning of this? Kabuto, you were supposed to be an Akatsuki spy. Weren’t you caught in one of Sasori’s jutsu all this time?”

 

“Heh, Orochimaru-sama broke that jutsu for me ages ago”

 

“I can’t believe you went to the other side pretending to be caught in one of Sasori’s jutsu. Did you get caught in one of Orochimaru’s jutsu?”

 

“No... That’s not it. I just empathize with Orochimaru-sama’s ideas. By the way, who are you? The plan was to take care of Sasori, but something has gone quite wrong.”

“Kabuto, I’ll tell you about this morsel later. More importantly, why don’t you call the three little mice behind you over here?”

 

Yamato narrowed his eyes at the Serpent Lord and then made the signal. The three ninja waiting behind him saw their queue and jumped into a line in front of their team captain, Naruto already letting the kyuubi’s power loose a little in his rage.

 

“Looks like the pink-haired one is back again and even the Nine-tails brat showed up. Maybe I’ll play with you a little, hmmm? Let’s see who’s gotten stronger: you or Sasuke.”

 

* * *

 

Naruto gritted his teeth, just dying to send that Snake-yarou flying, but he knew his team was counting on him and he knew he couldn’t let them down by letting that bastard fox out. He settled for letting his rage out through words instead.

 

“Give. Sasuke. Back!”

 

“Giving him back isn’t the correct way of saying it Naruto-kun. Your reasoning is off. Sasuke-kun came to us because he wanted to. For a man, you’re to obsessed with the past. You need to resign yourself.”

 

“If you want to know about my protégé, you’ll have to try forcing it out of me”

 

And with those last few words from that Helmet-head and his damn ‘lord’, Naruto lost all inhibitions and let the kyuubi’s chakra loose, despite his earlier reasonings.

 

Orange, fiery chakra oozed from inside his network and enveloped his body. It bubbled and hissed as a tail started to form and Orochimaru kept egging him on, playing with his life not realising the true power of the rage of the Nine-tails’s jinchuuriki. Naruto’s eyes grew wild and his pupils elongated into sharpened slits, his canines cracked and shifted until they were as sharp as the most polished blade and his face markings, whose presence was once a great mystery, thickened and grew darker. He hunched over onto all-fours as his nails lengthened and scraped grooves into the bridge’s wooden slats.

  


In a split second the, once cheerful, blond was pouncing on the pale snake-nin with his, now clawed, hand drawn back and ready to strike. It made contact with the side of the black-haired ninja’s jaw and sent him flying into the tree line on the east side of the bridge. Orochimaru slammed into the first tree, smashing right through its trunk and the trunks of many, many more behind it, before hitting a tree a few kilometres away and coming to a stop, half-felling tree in the process. Naruto then shifted his gaze to Kabuto, intending to wreak havoc on his body next; however, he stilled and watched as his teammates shook at the sight of him. In fact, the only one actually shaking was Sakura and he was sure it wasn’t out of fear, but something else that he couldn’t identify. The other two ,though, weren’t shaking so much visibly as they were in their hearts, he could feel all the fear rising off him, surprisingly there was more emanating from the Captain then there was from Sai, but then he’d always known that the knew member of Team Kakashi was hiding something, he just didn’t know what.

 

He turned his attention back to the woods that he’d flung the Snake Lord into, upon hearing the scraping of footsteps approach. It was impressive to say the least, that he was still able to walk after such an intense blow, but he expected no less from one of the Legendary Sannin.

 

Kabuto smirked at his lord’s reappearance as he made his way, slowly, to the bridge’s pickets*. As he approached, Naruto turned to face him once more and let out a menacing growl. Not one person moved, save Orochimaru who, despite his peeling face, lurched towards the Leaf’s jinchuuriki steadily, as if he was daring Naruto to hit him again, as if he felt nothing from the first attack. Before Naruto could take that dare, two more tails started forming around the first one. He dragged a breath out of his lungs and brought up the fiery carmine chakra with it, leaving it to snake around his body and form tendrils of bloody red that twisted and writhed in the air, giving off a sinister, burning feeling that entangled itself with the very existences of everyone present, worming itself into the depths of their souls and not letting go. Even Sai, who, up until now, seemed almost unaffected by the extreme negativity being given off, seemed to buckle under the pressure when exposed to the unadulterated rage hidden within the Kyuubi’s host, hidden within Naruto. He shot forward, flinging Orochimaru into the forest once more, removing his left arm in the process. This came as a surprise to Kabuto but this feeling didn’t last because Naruto promptly let out a blood-curdling howl that blew him and all of his teammates away, although they managed to hold on to pieces of the bridge, which kept them from being completely obliterated like Kabuto had been. As a countermeasure, Yamato decided to create a Wood Clone to follow after him so that he could make sure he didn’t cause too much destruction or get more injured than he already was.

 

Almost just as soon as the onslaught of menacing chakra died down, did the fourth tail begin to blossom and take shape. At this point, Naruto was barely staying conscious and had only gotten this far due through sheer force of will, but as the tail shifted and grew longer, his willpower began to falter. His left arm gave out and he fell to to the ground, barely even keeping his other limbs from doing the same. He pushed back up, drawing in ragged breaths but as he did so, a sharp, merciless pain shot through his abdomen. He gave out. His sclera took on the colour of his irises which had, by this point, disappeared completely, leaving only his slitted pupils to dart from corner to corner of the pools of bloody red which now occupied his face. His slitted pupils then grew even more so until they could not be seen through the gruesome red spreading through his features like a particularly nasty bruise.

 

The blond ninja stopped moving, seemingly caught up in his own terror-filled existence, not even moving an inch when his skin started to peel of, revealing the dark mass of swirling chakra and blood beneath the surface of his limbs and face. He did however let out a pained series of grunts as the process carried on, finally letting out a painful screech once no more of his skin could be seen on his body, but was left floating through the reddening cloak of chakra along with much of his blood. The pieces began to drift up to the edge of the cloak, followed by droplets of his blood that, when the outer surface of the cloak was reached disintegrated into puffs of fine, black mist that began to swirl around his now abstractly human form, creating a thickening, black, cocoon-like, sphere in which the final stages of his transformation would take place.

 

The thin, black tendrils that had been spiralling around the pod began to contract and be absorbed by it, until it was a perfect sphere for a mere moment before a wisp of the mist began to rise from the centre of the cocoon like smoke.

 

It burst open, releasing a shock wave of chakra and wind that uprooted trees and sent logs and branches flying, even forcing Yamato’s clone to put up a Wood Style: Domed Wall barrier to keep himself from blowing away.

 

The dust cleared from around the crater that the cocoon had made upon its decomposition, revealing that Naruto was nowhere be seen which caught the Snake Lord off guard because he could feel him, he could feel his pure hate emanating from the very centre of the crater, so he knew that he was there. He had to be.

 

“Simply unbelievable, the things this child can do.”

 

Clone Yamato landed on the top of a pine tree on the rim of the newly-formed clearing that had managed not to be blown away, just as The Four-out-of-Nine-Tails revealed itself from amongst the devastation.

 

“Shimatta.”

 

*Picketts are the two poles on either side of a bridge that connect the bridge to the ground.

 

* * *

 

What crouched in the centre of the crater shouldn’t be considered human and in any other circumstances, wouldn’t be considered human, but Yamato knew, as well as the rest of the team did, that that thing, however monstrous it looked, was Naruto… or at least used to be Naruto.

 

Yamato decided that his clone had to intervene before it was completely and utterly impossible to revert Naruto to, well, Naruto.

 

He Shunshined to the centre of crater and began to ink the za/stabilise kanji (座) onto his palm, it was now or never, before the Mini-bi broke out of its post-transformation haze he’d have to seal it.

 

“I-Inu-Tori-Saru-Hitsuji-Saru-Tora! Hokage Style Elder Jutsu: Tenth Edict On Enlightenment!”

 

The clone ruched forwards and slammed his palm onto the Chi-bi’s* chest activating a weakened version of the jutsu, due to its powerful nature and him only being a clone. He slammed his palm onto the ground in front of him and grew eleven, spiked, wooden pillars around Naruto in a circle and began the sealing. It was going very slowly if it was even going at all, but he hoped it would be strong enough to hold him down at least until the original arrived.

 

At that thought, almost as if it were planned out, Yamato burst into the clearing and replicated what his clone did just moments earlier to a tee. With the original now there, and both of them working together, the sealing started to take effect and resonated with the Shodaime’s necklace which Naruto was wearing before he transformed. Just as the fourth tail finished receding into the cloak, a bright, white light shone forth from the ground surrounding the, now three-tailed, jinchuuriki. As the light faded, Yamato could make out what looked like some sort of runes in a circle as the source of the light. He could’ve sworn on his life that they hadn’t been there a moment earlier. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the light completely disappear as quickly as it had come forth taking the half-formed tailed-beast with it.

 

* * *

 

I was so bemused by the appearance of the shining, white glyphs, that I only just noticed that it took Naruto and even some of the sealing-assist wood pillars, with it when it fizzled out. What will I tell Lady Tsunade? I know it’s my second time saying this today, but…

 

“Shimatta.”

  


*It’s a pun on the words for small/short in Japanese ”Chibi” and the character they use to suffix the number of tails on a tailed beast eg. Kyuubi/Nine-tails, Hachibi/Eight-tails etc. So it roughly translates to Small tails which isn’t that funny in English but hey, a pun’s a pun.

 

* * *


	3. A/N #1

Hey guys. It's Crunchie again with a new chapter of Twin Souls and Kindred Spirits and by new chapter I mean an Author's Note so sorry about that. What do you think of the new title? Is it too much? I kinda thought thought that just "Twin Souls" was rather bland and have been waiting for some new inspiration to come to me. It finally did and now we have this. So I really do want to know what you think. Is the new one or just Twin Souls better?

I wanted to use this note to ask about the new title, but also to announce the chapter release date officially. They should come out every Saturday from now on until Ihit some writersblock which is bound to happen at some point. But I do have the first 8 chapters vaguely planned out already. If you guys want me to post my chapter plans at a later date i will. I'll put a link to a poll in the C/N.

I think the next chapter might be a bit short so sorry about that in advance, but it's still in the making so that might change.

I wanted to say that if anyone has any ship requests or wants to have their name in the story as a background character (because why not?) just tell me.

The first 10 commenters will probably get in so please comment the name you want to be written in as (preferably a real name, doesn't have to be yours, with no numbers in it so the story still flows).

Back into the cookie jar for me! See you on Saturday!

Crunchie Out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://www.strawpoll.me/15936352/r


	4. Chapter 3: The Premonition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Rin is in the middle of one of his recurring dreams, the one where he's late for class (what else would it be?), a new event in his dreamscape, namely hitting his head on a wall after tripping over a table, triggers a premonition of demonic proportions.
> 
> What will he see? And will he find what he's looking for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo guys! It's Crunchie, back with another chapter of Twin Souls and Kindred Spirits. I almost didn't finish this one on time and its also much shorter, about half the length, of my previous chapters. So I hope you don't mind too much. I actually meant for this premonition to be mentioned briefly in chapter 3 but then I kinda just started writing and it took up my whole mental creative space with new ideas about the vision. So I ended up making chapter 3 the vision and i'll write chapter 4 as what I originally had planned for 3. Just thought I'd give you guys some insight on my thinking process and why this chapter is a little shorter that usual. 
> 
> Also I'm still trying to figure out what my average word count goal per chapter should be. Right now I'm aiming for 2 000 but please comment your opinions and I'll try to meet the consensus goal in future.

Rin dashed through the kitchen, making a hasty apology to Ukobach for skipping out on breakfast as much as really did enjoy the well-prepared meals of his fellow chef in the morning. He barely missed hitting the low table on the way to the door and after managing to swerve out of the way he ran head-first into the wall making the world go black. Ukobach rushed out of the kitchen (a rare occasion) and started frantically shouting for Rin to wake up.

 

He tried to open his eyes but the pain in his head was too much. The shouting wasn’t helping either. Wait a second, it wasn’t shouting it sounded more like a demon of some sort. Like the angry roar of a demon that was backed into a corner. Like he sounded. Like he was afraid of sounding… The urgency of seeing the source of the animalistic growl grew rapidly as these thoughts occurred to him. He needed to see what was making those noises he was so scared of. He needed to see who was… If  he was… He needed to know. If it was him, he’d figure something out, but if it wasn’t him, then he needed to deal with whoever it was himself. The sound of aggression continued but as he listened closer to the howling demon, he detected something vaguely familiar in the tone of its roar, if a roar could even have a tone. He heard, beneath the burning rage of a demon with an insatiable desire for destruction, a cry for help; a cry for the pain to stop. He knew that other exorcists wouldn’t hear the subtleties of the cry and so he resolved to find the tortured soul himself, before anyone else could do it more harm.

 

Instead of the noise fading at this resolution, the ache in his head died down just enough to allow him to open his eyes without experiencing the excruciating pain which previously prevented him from investigating it further.

 

Rin’s eyes flicked open, then hastily shut once more. The light, even in the scarcely-lit room that he barely managed to glimpse, was too much to handle after his eyes being closed for such a long period of time. He opened them once more, slower this time as to avoid the stinging that the, as he had experienced it earlier, blinding light had caused him. As the dryness cleared from his vision, his world came back into focus and he finally laid eyes upon the source of the feral yowls. Oddly enough, now that he could see, he could also  feel the thick, malicious energy ebbing off of the creature in front of him. It was a wonder he hadn’t noticed it earlier.

 

What he saw amazed him, what he  felt amazed him. It was unlike any demon or monster he’d ever seen. He would’ve described it as a fox that had been completely skinned and was dripping with so much blood that its muscles weren’t even visible if it weren’t for the fact that it had a face that largely resembled a teenage boy or at least that’s what Rin thought it looked like. It was hard to tell because even its ‘face’ seemed to be covered in a thick layer of blood and what Rin had earlier assumed to be its mouth now looked, upon further inspection, like a rugged, fleshy tear that ran from one edge of its jaw to the other, gaping wide to show the searing white abyss that seemed to make up the majority of what lurked beneath the creature’s outer shell.

 

It was glaring straight ahead, at what, Rin couldn’t see, but what he  could see, was how tense whatever it was focusing its attention on was making it. Its eyes, like hollow voids, burned holes into its attackers, concentrating so hard that it wouldn’t miss any move made against it. No, that wasn’t the right word for what it was doing, for once he felt like he should pay particular attention to using the right word and concentrating was  not doing its state justice. What it was doing was more like it was relying purely on unadulterated instinct and inhuman reflexes to detect and evade any possible threats to itself without even needing to  try . Although Rin doubted that in this primal state, whatever or  whoever this was - why did he think it was a who? - would be doing very little strategic planning or any kind of planning for that matter. The demon seemed so disconnected from its surroundings but when its opponent shifted forward, it tensed and inched backwards towards the warehouse walls as if it wasn’t caught up in an internal battle for dominance as he knew it was. It happened again, why did he know this? How could he? What was so special about this demon? 

 

Now that its ‘attackers’ had shifted positions, Rin could see who they were. It was him… and that kuso-megane, but how? He witnessed the spitting image of himself edge nearer to the volatile creature and as he did so, it pressed back on its hind paws, getting ready to pounce. That’s when something very unexpected happened. The demon fox stopped. It froze. Then it let out a grating cry and began to thrash about violently. He saw one of its tails flicker and half disappear, only to reappear a moment later. He saw it hold back a swipe of its chakra tendrils that would’ve almost definitely made contact with himself and his brother, he saw the light of recognition flash in its, once hollow eyes, dying out as quickly as it had been born mere moments earlier. But above all, he saw a  human \- a boy - and he wouldn’t let  anyone hurt him, over his cold, dead body.

 

He jerked awake in a cold sweat having burned away some of his bedsheets in his sleep and met his brother’s eyes.

 

“Rin. What happened?.”

 

“Ha-hah-*wheeze*-hah-’vegottafind’m”

 

“Rin? Find what?’

 

“K-ki-k-tsune...Yon-hah hah-bi no y-youko”

 

Rin slumped back onto his still-smoldering sheets with one word whispering through his mind. He didn’t know where it came from, but he was determined, even in his unconscious state, to find the word whispered. To find:

 

_ Naruto... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I think I might not be able to update every Saturday... My inspiration isn't as bountiful as I thought it was. Sorry but I will update when it hits. Sorry to keep you in suspense.
> 
> Crunchie Out.


	5. Chapter 4: The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin and Yukio try to figure out what happened and then head off to school.
> 
> (Kinda a filler chapter sorry! I tried to reach the recommended 2000 words, but again, this is a filler chapter and it didn't feel right carrying on)
> 
> New formatting added in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a TON of speech, indirect and direct so sorry if you don't like that kind of thing.
> 
> In case you didn't read the second chapter note on Chapter 3, I'm putting the note here as well.
> 
> I don't think I'm going to be able to keep to a writing/update schedule because my inspiration is not as reliable as i thought it was so I'll update as much sa I can (definitely no less than once a month) but I can't promise anything consistent. Again, Super sorry!!

 

* * *

 

*Buuuu/thump etc.* - sound effects if needed

## Chapter 4: The Aftermath

Rin awoke to the soft but firm grip of a hand on his arm and a panicked voice in his ear. Yukio had been trying to shake him awake since he had fallen into unconsciousness a few hours prior, worry masking his growing fatigue. Rin pressed his eyes shut, as if trying to blink away the pain of his throbbing head, before gingerly opening them to try and figure out what was going on.

 

“Rin! Rin! What happened? Your sheets, they’re singed! I heard you thrashing about in your bed and when I came to check on you, the carpet was on fire! Are you okay Rin?”

 

“Wha-What’r ya talkin’ ‘bout bibi megan’? Whaes i’ se blraaht? (Why’s it so bright?) ” Rin slurred, still bleary-eyed and only half awake.

 

He stopped speaking and his eyes widened as he remembered the events of his dream. But just as suddenly as everything came back to him, did it begin to fade away, as is the nature of dreams. He tried desperately to hold on to the images slipping out of his grasp, but the only thing he could salvage from the flood of pictures was a feeling, he didn’t quite know how to describe it, anger maybe? Hate? Or was it something entirely different? Desperation? No… It wasn’t an emotion, he knew that much. The only possible way to describe it he could think of, was Red: A blinding, bubbling, out-of-control takeover of red.

 

“Rin…?”

 

“Huh? Y-Yukio? What’s wrong? You look even more stressed out than usual. *Kekeke*”

 

“Rin.”

 

His eyes hardened, _didn’t he remember anything?_. He needed to find out and that required a gentle touch.

 

“Rin.” He repeated, now with a voice as soft as silk. “You don’t remember? You must’ve had a bad dream. You burned the carpets and singed your sheets, but surprisingly nothing else was damaged.”

 

“....Woah.” Rin stared, open-mouthed at the room as he finally managed to blink the dryness away.

 

“Can you remember anything? Anything at all about your dream?”

 

Rin bit his bottom lip.

 

“...N-not really. There’s this, uh... feeling, it’s very hard to describe but It might’ve been a warning…”

 

“A warning? Can you remember what it was a warning for? Just try.”

 

“Uhm… I-I can’t. Sorry Yukio…”

 

_Naruto_

 

It whispered through his mind. He knew he’d heard it before…

 

“It’s okay nii-san. It was probably nothing anyw-”

 

But Rin wasn’t listening anymore.

 

_Is it a name? A place? Where have I heard it before and why was I suddenly reminded of it?_

 

_The dream._

 

He couldn’t tell how he knew that, but he was sure it was right. It was from the dream and if it was from the dream, he had to find it.

 

“Rin, you should get back to sleep. We have Cram school tomorrow. There’s only a week to the ExWire exam and you need to be alert enough to study for it.”

 

_Oh. I guess I kinda zoned out… Yukio’s right though, I really should get some rest. Let’s just hope I don’t have another weird dream._

 

“R-right… G'night Yukio.” Rin mumbled, still a bit spaced out.

 

“Good night nii-san.”

 

The next day Rin awoke to his alarm clock blaring loudly in his ear and for once he didn’t hit Snooze. He was too curious about this “Naruto” thing he had to find to relish the feeling of sleeping in like he usually did, so today he got to the dorm kitchen even before Yukio did. He sat down at the breakfast table and started on the morning bento’s that Ukobach made for them.

 

“Ittadakimasu.”

 

As he ate, he concentrated on trying to remember some more of the previous night’s dream. He started with what he knew. An overwhelming amount of, what he had decided to call “Redness” (so sue him, he wasn’t good at names) and the word Naruto. He knew that naruto was another word for the spiral fish cake toppings on top of ramen, but he decided it couldn’t be that. So if it wasn’t an object… was it maybe… a name? Although being named after a fish cake wasn’t something he’d expect from any normal person. Then again, he didn’t think having blue, flaming night terrors was normal either s it was a possibility. He was getting nowhere with this, he might as well just enjoy his breakfast.

 

“Good morning, nii-san” Yukio said groggily as he rubbed his left eye with his uniform sleeve, before replacing his glasses on his face.

 

“Mornin’ Megane.” Rin mumbled through the food in his mouth.

 

“Don’t talk with your mou- Wait… Nii-san!? Why are you here?”

 

“Erh bonee doo da bhak abh omdaimh, maghona! (I don’t need you to wake up on time, megane!)” He retorted through a second mouthful.

 

“...................”

 

Yukio was speechless. Not once in his life had Rin ever woken up on time without help, without his help.

 

_What in Assiah is going on?_

 

Rin swallowed the last bite of egg rice and opened his mouth to say something before noticing his brother’s utterly disbelieving face and starting to sulk playfully.

 

“What? It’s not like I’m a baby! I can wake up on time without the world ending! *buuuuu*”

 

(In case anyone doesn’t know, buu is a sound effect used often in manhwa to describe the sound of blowing a small raspberry while sulking)

 

“Okay, if you say so. We better get going soon, otherwise we’ll end up being late anyway”

 

“Uuuuuh. You’re right… Why do you have to be right…?”

 

The two brothers left the breakfast trays in the kitchen sink and headed off to the Cram School. Little did they know, their day wouldn’t stay quite so peaceful.


End file.
